Natural Resources

Science & Technology 11

Ms. Brock

British Columbia Pacific Ocean Rocky Mountains semi-arid desert, splendid forests and northern

plains.

Magnificent natural beauty and resources

Economic backbone of BC

Valuable part of our economy

Mining, Fishing, Agriculture, Forestry

What is a Natural Resource? Made with natural resources

Clothes, computer, phone, home, food

Natural resources Something that is derived from nature in a raw form that we can use in our lives.

Examples: Minerals Metal Ores Water Forests Water Animals

Renewable vs. Non-renewable Renewable

One that can regrow, regenerate, or replenish

Examples: Solar energy Biomass (plant material or animal waste

used for fuel) Wind energy Geothermal energy (heat from deep within

the Earth) Water Soil Trees Fish

Non-renewable One that cannot be renewed, regrown, or

replenished or at least for a very long time Occur in fixed amounts that diminish as

we use them How long it lasts depends on demand and

how much is available (reserve) Reserve

total amount of known natural resource that has been measured and judged economical to extract

Examples: Oil – oil deposits Coal Gas Ore – like iron

Importance of Natural Resources Very important

Trees – furniture, houses, paper, and many more

Minerals Computers – lead, gold, copper, aluminum, nickel, and zinc Guitar Microphone Body – needs calcium, phosphorus, sodium, sulphur, chlorine,

magnesium, iodine, iron, and trace amounts of chromium, cobalt, copper, fluorine, manganese, molybdenum, selenium, tin, vanadium, and zinc.

Without mining there would be NO music industry!

Value of Natural Resources Depends on several things:

Location of the resource Availability of the resource Demand for the resource

Can be personal, economical, and environmental

Intricately connected – if has personal value we may want to extract it which impacts economic and in turn environmental.

Value may change over time Coal was important during industrial

revolution

Personal value Meets basic needs of food, clothing, and

shelter Provides us with comfort or leisure

Economic value Provides us with jobs and money

Environmental value Importance and interconnection with

every living and non-living thing around it

The Extraction of Natural Resources

Primary Industries: Forestry Fishing Mining Agriculture

Mining

Two types of minerals Base metals – copper, aluminum Precious metals – gold, silver

Large Concentrations of valuable metals mining operation may be opened

Extraction – two ways

Sub-surface mining Removal of minerals from underneath

the ground by cutting into the Earth

Surface mining Removal of deposits from an open pit

mine Strip-mining (removing layers of the

earth one at a time) Mountain top removal

Mining

Multiple metal deposits Lead-zinc-silver deposits Extracted ore is processed in a smelter

or refinery to purify the desired metals and discard the tailings or waste products

Structural materials Gravel or limestone Fossil fuels like thermal coal or oil

BC’s First Nations – first to mine for minerals

Fishing First Nations people relied on salmon and other fish for food and trade items.

Five Important species of salmon Coho Pink Sockeye Chum Spring

Dried and smoked for the winter

Canning – new way to preserve fish major export First canneries in 1870 and by early 20th century many canneries along major salmon rivers

Freezing facilities on ships shut down many canneries

Agriculture Farming began with Europeans in the early 1800s

Farms near Fort Victoria, Saanich Peninsula, Fraser Valley

Fruit-growing regions Okanagan Kootenay Valley Peace River Valley

Wine Industry – vineyards in the Okanagan and Vancouver Island

3% is arable land or potentially arable

Up to 30% of the province has some agricultural potential

Forestry

Most important primary industry

Past 200 years – more wealth than any other industry

45% is covered in forests – only 50% is commercial timber

Coniferous evergreen trees – softwood lumber

Gigantic trees of BC’s coastal old growth forests large work forces and more expensive to

log Transportation challenges of hauling logs

and high labour costs Quality and size makes them very valuable

BC’s Interior – smaller trees, widely distributed, located on flatter terrain Fewer workers, easier to transport

Pulp and Paper Industry One of the world’s largest producers First pulp mill in Alberni Valley in 1860s

Technology Profile: The Double-Cut Head Chain Saw Early 1930s – chain saw preferred method

First chain saws – mechanized versions of a crosscut saw

Crosscut technology – inefficient teeth quickly become dull and the cut or kerf is wide Lot of energy goes into chewing through the debris that the saw makes

1935 – Joe Cox (mechanic and logger) timber beetles in the larval stage cut through wood Used cutters on head to make left-right cross wise motions – left almost no debris Working model of a chain saw chain – two cutters on each head Patented and entered market in 1947

From Raw to Ready Harvesting – extracting natural resources from the environment

Harvested Processed Useful finished products Manufacturing

Oil extracted from the earth then refined then processed into solvents, fuels, and petrochemicals

Trees cut down then hauled to a mill where cut into lumber and placed in a kiln to dry or sent and processed for paper or pulp

Different methods to extract it then process it into useful consumer products

Manufacturing – makes finished products on a large scale from raw resources

How a pencil is made Wooden pencil –

cedar tree

Writing core (lead) – graphite and clay

Ferrule – metal ring that holds the eraser – made from minerals

Eraser – wax and rubber Made from petroleum

which comes from oil drilled from the ground

1. Cedar trees harvested and sent to a sawmill for processing.

2. Sawmill – cedar logs cut into blocks and dried in a kiln. Go to a slat factory.

3. Slat factory – cedar blocks cut into strips called pencil slats

4. Pencil slats – sorted by quality, dipped in a wax and stained. Go to pencil factory

5. Pencil factory – Machine cuts a groove in the slats

6. Writing core (graphite/clay mixture) dipped in wax allowing it to glide smoothly over paper is placed in the groove

7. Second grooved slat placed over top and glued to the first grooved slat.

8.Glue dries – slats cut into individual pencils and trimmed to length – special machine shapes the pencils.

9. Pencils are inspected then painted.

10. Metal ring and eraser – crimped into place

Pencil – Hidden Resources At every step of the process, energy is being used to find the resources, extract them,

refine them, manufacture and transport the finished or semi-finished goods to the stores.

Every piece of machinery required to saw the wood, produce the writing core, paint the pencils and cover them in plastic or a cardboard box went through its own production processes. The amount of technology to manufacture a pencil is huge!

Pencil Video